Ja and Jaren need more on-court time before serious judgment can be made
Morant and Jackson have had such little time on the court together, they still need time to learn each other’s habits.
In the 2019-20 season, Morant and Jackson played 1,034 minutes together. That was the third-most used two-player combo with Morant that season.
In 2020-21, Morant and Jackson played 189 minutes together. We saw Morant play with reserve player Justice Winslow more than JJJ last year.
This season, we’ve seen the pair of Grizzlies play 481 minutes together. It’s the third-most frequent two-player combo with Ja we’ve seen this season (trailing only Ja Morant-Desmond Bane and Ja Morant-Steven Adams).
Winning cures all problems, as the saying goes. But at some point, the fans and front office will expect to see more consistent results from Jaren on offense once his four-year $105 million contract kicks in.
Hopefully, this is just a bad slump for Jackson because if his inconsistent play on offense continues, there will be a lot of questions about the value he brings to the table when he’s making $20 million per season.